George a



(No Model.)

B.- A. LEECH;

BICYCLE SADDLE.

(Application filed June 21, 189B.)

Patented Oct. 25, I898.

m: uormls PETERS cov Pumoumo" WASHINGTON, p c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE A. LEECH, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BICYCLE-SADDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 61,2,972, dated October 25, 1898. Application filed June 21,1898. Serial No. 684,100. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. LE cH, a citizen of the United States, residing in New York,in the county of New York, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bicycle Saddles and the Like; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,-and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention has for its particular object to provide a saddle which will furnish a proper support for the posterior part of the body and the part under the tuberosities of the ischium and at the same time to avoid any pressure upon the soft tissues of the perineum. It is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 represents a top plan view; Fig.-

2, a bottom View; Fig. 3, a side elevation, and gig. 4 a detail in section on the line 4 4 of In the views, A denotes the entire saddle. It is preferably stamped out of sheet metal in one piece and bent into the form shown in the drawings,,and it may be covered or not, as desired. Although I prefer to make it out of metal, I do not wish to limit myself to any particular kind of material.

At the rear portion the saddle is provided with the upstanding cantle a, and the pommel is formed by the two forwardly-extending horns or prongs b b, which are preferably made by cutting out the metal of the saddle proper along the median line, as shown at c, from the cantle portion forwardly to the end of the pommel, so as to leave the prongs b unconnected at their ends.

In the construction of the saddle I preferably turn all the edges over to form a neat smooth finish, as indicated at d. The cantle portion is provided with outwardly and downwardly extending side wings e, and the seat portion proper widens out rather abruptly from the pommel-horns, the sides f drooping downwardly and outwardly to where they meet and merge into the wings of the cantle portion. As will be seen in Figs. 1 and 2, the pommel part is narrow and broadens out abruptly into a rather wide seat portion. This part is open at c from a point in rear of the widest portion of the seat to the outer ends of the pommel-horns, which construction not only entirely relieves the parts of the body coming'over the center of the seat, and which are most liable to injury from external pressure, from all contact with the saddle and prevents overheating and sweating of the same by allowing free ventilation, but permits the pommel and the entire width of the seat part to be narrowed or widened by adjusting the ends of the pommel-horns nearer to or farther from each other. The narrowing or Widening of the seat part proper by this action is due to the extension of the slot 0 to a. point in rear of the widest part of the saddle in connection with the upturning of the cantle portion a, thus permitting each half of the saddle to bend or flex on the narrow rising part at the rear of the slot as on a sort of hinge. The cantle portion extends far enough up to aiford a perfect brace and support to the posterior part of the body, and the cutaway portion is extended sufficiently far to the rear to entirely relieve the coccyx and the soft parts of the whole perineal region from external strains, jars, or pressure. In connection with these features the 'downwardly and outwardly'drooping sides f of the seat portion support and sustain the muscles of the inner and under sides of the legs, while those on the outer sides of the thighs also derive support from the downwardlyextending side-win gs erunnin g from the cantle portion.

In connection with the invention I have illustrated a spring-support for the saddle, and the invention includes an adjustment of the pommel-horns toward and from each other, and although it is not limited to any particu lar arrangement of spring or means for obtain ing the adjustment I have shown in the accompanying drawings the simplest and most convenient forms at present known to me.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, 9 denotes a spring of stout elastic wire made in one piece, bent in the middle, and having its rear ends coiled into helices h h and secured by suitable means i z to the under side of the saddle. The front end of the spring is secured to a clip j by being bent around a hook is at its forward end, and I make this clip serve both as a means for securing the front end of the spring roe to the saddle and for adjusting the distance of the pommel-horns apart. For the latter purpose the clip has upstanding sides Z Z, which occupy the space between the downwardly-extending edges (1 d of the horns b b. The clip is secured to the horns by means of screws m m, which pass freely through perforations in the horns and take into threaded holes in the sides Z Z of the clip, and between the inner sides of the horns and the outer sides of the clip there are set or jam nuts n n to hold the pommel-horns in any position of adjustment to which the screws may be set. In order to adjust the width of the pommel and effect the consequent Variation in the width of the seat portion of the saddle, the jam-nuts are loosened and the screws run in or out as desired, when, after obtaining the proper width between the horns, the nuts are again screwed up tightly against the horns.

Having thus described myinvention,what I claim is 1. A saddle for bicycles and the like, having the upstanding cantle portion a, the integral pommel-horns b, b, means for adjusting the horns and the cut-out portion 0, the latter extending from the free ends of the horns to a point in the cantle portion in rear of the widest part of the saddle so as to permit a variation of the width of the saddle by the adjusting of the pommel-horns.

2. A saddle for bicycles and the like, having the upstanding cantle portion a from which the side wings e, e extend downwardly and outwardly, a seat portion that is wide at the rear and narrows toward the front, the cut-out portion 6 extending from a point in the cantle portion in rear of the widest part of the seat, and an integral pommel composed of the two laterally-adjustable horns b, b, the downwardly-extending side wings e, e, joining the laterally-extended drooping sides f, f, of the pommel portion.

In testimony whereof I affiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE A. LEECH.

\Vitnesses:

E. S. SEAMAN, HENRY DAVIDSON. 

